How many cows are responsible for half of the somatic cells in your bulk tank? What percentage drops do you need in your herd's SCC to qualify you for milk quality premium payments? How many cows are responsible for you not collecting your premium payments? In many herds, one or two cows could be responsible for all of this, especially in a small herd and if the rest of the herd is relatively free of mastitis. If this is the case, a few chronic mastitis cows could be costing you big bucks. One code 8 cow can put as many cells into the tank as 32 code 3 cows producing the same amount of milk! This is illustrated in Chart 1. Let's say your herd count is 400,000, and you arc aiming to get below 200,000 in order to pick up a2O cent quality premium on your milk check. If you are shipping 30 cwt (3000 lbs.) of milk per day, the quality premium would be worth ■56.00 per day or $2,190 per year. Let’s also say your DHIA SCC report might look something like the illustration in Table 1 TabU I: Cowl Sorted by SCC on Teat Day Prv Curr Lact Pry Cun DIM Per Over Barn SCC SCC Ava TD Td on Tank 3.5 Name Str Set SCC Milk Milk U 2 ' SCC SCC Verna 3.0 S.O 6.0 52 44 344 22 9 Jean 7.0 7 X> 73 80 32 1 Jane 5.0 50 < 5,0 44 39 221 12 2 Dellae 20 2.0 2,0 65 12 120 10 Alyce 1.0 U) 1.0 54 59 221 3 To drop the herd count down to 200,000, you have to reduce your present count by 200,000 or 50%. If you look at the "Pet Tank SCC" column in Table 1, you'll see that 2 cows, Vema and Jean, are responsible for 54% of the cells in the tank (22 + 32 = 54). Combined, they are costing the dairymen $6.00 a day in premiums; that's $3.00 per day GENERATORS READY FOR THE NEXT STORM? For Salas and Sarviea Cali Tha Paopla Who Know Qansratora MARTIN ELECTRIC PLANTS 280 PlMsant Valley Rd., Ephrata. pa 17522-8620 Tel; 717-733-7968 Pax: 717-733-1981 GLENN'S UDDERINGS By Glenn A. Shirk Lancaster Extension Dairy Agent Chart I; SCC Output By Codes (l.OOO'l) protons u many somatic ms (tCC) as 93 cods 9 ewii 4QO 12 25 so >OO m 0)»94S070 AUTOMATIC a 3d MANUAL SYSTEMS DIESEL LP. GAS NAT. GAS NEW & USED LEROY SOMER 0 ALTERNATOI BRUSHLESS INDUSTRIAL GRADE 11 to 60 KW addition to other mastitis costs associated with lost production due to tissue damage. other cOws in the herd. they've been in milk and how many times their SCC code has been over 3.S Verna has been milking 344 days and has been high 9 times almost every test. She is chronic. possible contageous and a good candidate for culling, especially if she has not responded to dry treatment. If you do hang onto her until you get a better cow to fill her stall, try to milk her last. educational institution. SCC Cedi or over $l,OOO for each of these 2 cows per year. Lost premiums makes mastitis very expensive for these two cows. This is an treatment costs and discarded milk, not to mention the risk of them spreading infection to The question is should you cull these cows? First of all look at how many days Jean, on the other hand, put the highest percent cells in the tank, partly because of her higher level of production. However, her cell count was over 3.S only once so far in this lactation, but she has only been milking ( Bo days. She is a cow to watch closely for the next few tests. Penn State Cooperative Extension is an affirmative action, equal opportunity. Census Bureau Asks For Help WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census is requesting farmer cooperation in filling out its forms so that federal decisions on agriculture can be based on an accurate understanding of agriculture. In a news release, the bureau stated, “If all farmers and ranchers are not counted in the Census of Agriculture, decisions on farm programs, agriculture trade, exten sion programs, and others will suf fer. In the long run, every farmer and rancher will be affected.” The data from the Census of Agriculture are essential in allocat ing billions in agriculture funds every year. Many familiar programs receive and depend on adequate federal funds and would be affected nega tively by a poor census response. Some of those decisions to be made which depend the census include the distribution of exten sion program funds; the number of acres of cropland that can be put into the conservation reserve prog ram in each county; the amount of funds for farm disaster relief; and the amount of farm loan money available to states and counties. In addition, negotiators for the government rely heavily on the information when dealing with agricultural commodity trade. According to the buruea, “If the information is understated, then American producers may not get the best benefits possible from cur Umcwtyr Fwntog. B>tury, llty 8, IW3-A2I rent trade negotiations.” According to George Pierce, assistant chief of the Census Bureau’s Agriculture Division, “More than 75 percent of Ameri ca's farmers and ranchers have completed and returned their Cen sus of Agriculture report Others have requested time extensions until they complete their tax returns. “But there are still quite a few that we haven’t heard from. Response in some states and coun ties is better than others.” What the discrepency in cooper ation means is that those states and counties with the greatest under count may not receive their share of the agriculture programs, fund ing, trade considerations, educa tional funds and consideration in Congress. “What we also think has hap pened is that a lot of people who arc no longer actively farming pitched their forms in the trash. That’s human nature. But we need to know who’s not farming by sending the form back indicating their situation,” Pierce said. “Meanwhile, the slow returns from non-farmers combined with farmers and ranchers who haven't mailed back their forms keeps the returns below the level we need to publish complete and accurate data.” For more information, or to request a form, call toll-free at 1-800-233-6132.